Massachusetts Vanity Plates

 

There are various types of placards in MA and various conditions designed for them. If you have bought a car or want to register it you may encounter the topic of placards.

So what do you have to do? What steps do you have to take? Well, read this article which covers the topic of Massachusetts vanity plates, and get answers to the questions in your head.

What Are The Different Types Of License Placards In Massachusetts?

MA has two types of plates. The first is with green characters and is called green placards. The second contains red symbols and correspondingly is called a red placard.

At first sight, it seems this has no meaning and exists just for design. But it does have a certain meaning. The green one indicates the automobiles that have been produced from 1977 to 1987. During this period the state required only one to be placed on the machine. But now you have to have two on your auto.

From the latter-mentioned year on, red ones are used for indicating the machine. And after this, the owners must pay for the tags. The officials decided to offer the public two plates for one vehicle. If people did not agree, they had to make holes in the bumper of their vehicle. Thus, this was a tricky step to make the public use the second one.

By doing so the government has reinforced its position and power. After this, the new law has become enforced by the government to the general public without any exceptions. But people that have green ones may maintain them.

This is the first state that has started to issue plates and the last that has started to give temporary ones.

The Registry of Motor vehicles is the institution that is in charge of this process. This state has 48 specialty tag types. If you want to take a detailed look and read more information about them, go by the link.

Number of The Characters Required

In MA, it may have a maximum of 6 characters. 5 elements are designed for motorcycles. Note that the first two characters have to be letters.

Unlike other states, here you cannot mix letters and numerals while choosing a design. As for the letters, you can use any combination of letters from A to Z included. You can use spaces and numbers from 0 to 9.

How To Order?

First, visit the MA government web page. Find the appropriate section. Click on the necessary button and fill out your application form. After that, send it to them via mail with the fee demanded. The address is mentioned on the application form.

How Long Does It Take?

The Department that is responsible for the submitted applications, reviews your application. If it meets all the necessary requirements, you will receive one with the registration documentation.

This process may take 12 weeks. They send you it via mail. If they deny it after the review, you will receive a notice and a refund within 4 to 6 weeks.

Fee

For these, you have to pay $50. But this is an extra cost. You have to pay all the necessary and required costs and taxes. Alongside these requirements, you have to pay additional money for the renewal as well.

What Is Displayed On It?

Different states have different priorities. And based on these priorities, they make their decisions. This case is not an exception.

The government has decided to put the motto of the state on the plate. But it is written in a shortened way; the Spirit of America. Besides this piece of writing, it has beautiful color planning.

What Does PM Mean?

PM is an abbreviation. It denotes permanent registration. This abbreviation is written in the place of the month and the year of expiration. This PM is also written on the registration document.

It is very convenient for automobile rental companies. It will help them avoid lots of unnecessary work each year. From 2021 on, they can choose to have either regular or permanent registrations.

Do The Characters Have Any Meaning?

Yes, there is a certain meaning hidden under the symbols. The last digit may help you understand the month in which it expires. For instance, if the last digit is 2, you can guess that it expires in February. And if the last symbol is 1, then it expires in January, and so on.

The numeral 0 shows that the expiration month is October. Remember that this is not the letter “O”. There is a large number of tags that end with the numeral 0. It’s because passenger cars cannot be registered in November or December. These months are the periods when the customized or the commercial ones are registered.

Note

In case you want to learn other information about how to look up a license plate in MA then go by the link and get acquainted with the whole process.